Tag: safari

Off again to Tampa to visit Busch Gardens this time. Nice journey over to the Gulf Coast and this time we didn’t need to drive through Tampa itself, so no city driving which was nice.

We visited Busch Gardens many years ago when we first went to Florida and made the mistake of going on a weekend, and it was really, really busy with local people. Fair enough they probably get a good value annual ticket and can go in whenever they want. But this time we planned to visit on a weekday and so went on a Monday. It was certainly a lot quieter but there were still long queues for some of the rides (not that we were going on any) and things like Rhino Rally, which we thought Rosemary was too little for anyway.

While getting our bearings and working out where to visit first we saw the crocodiles.

Crocodiles

We started off by visiting the Myombe Reserve where there are Gorillas and Chimps.

ChimpsWatching the GorillasGorillasGorillas

The grounds are really nice and the enclosures are pretty big (not as big as a jungle obviously) but give the animals lots of space to roam and hide away.

Myombe Reserve

As it was getting towards lunchtime and we took a break and went to the Kenyan Kanteen in the Nairobi area and got some chips (sorry fries) and a funnel cake. This is a fried dough, bit like a doughnut, but sort of swirled into the fryer so you get thin pieces all joined together. Was really nice and Rosemary wanted it.

Want it!Enjoying some fries

We then headed into the Curiosity Caverns and Animal Care Centre where there are some smaller animals and some requiring attention for whatever reason.

EagleNot sure what this was?LizardCameleonRattle Snake

From there we walked over to the Edge of Africa.

The Edge of Africa

There was a nice display with some lions, set up like an encampment.

Lions-Asleep as Normal

By the lions there is a Land Rover that you can climb into and the glass for the lion’s enclosure forms the windscreen.

Land RoverWatching the Lions

And there was an amazing “stand” (the term for a group) of flamingos.

Stand of FlamingosFlamingo

And finally in this area was the tank with hippos and a multitude of fish. Really nice to see them underwater.

Hippos

From here we went to the Nairobi train station to get the train around the whole park and through the animal enclosures. This was a really nice little trip and you get to see the animals much closer up.

ZebrasZebraZebras with rollercoaster in the backgroundGiraffeWilderbeastOn the Safari TrainOn the Safari Train

Getting off the train we headed further into the park and had a look at the elephants.

ElephantElephantsElephant

And then headed up into Timbuktu.

TimbuktuTimbuktu

And from there we headed to Jungala to see the tigers. Busch Gardens has a number of white tigers (which is not good for conservation purposes but they are pretty spectacular).

White TigersWhite Tiger

As well as the normally coloured tigers.

Tigers

The one on the left above looks like he’s halfway between the two.

And this guy really looks like a Disney cartoon of Shere Khan.

Shere Khan

There is a hatch you can stick you head up into where you can look at the tigers directly.

Tiger Observation

As well as a high level observation area where there is a floor to ceiling window.

Tiger ObservationTiger Observation

We went to do some shopping at this point and Julia tried on some rather fetching head gear.

Deeny boppers

And Rosemary got bought a white tiger, although she was a bit too sleepy to appreciate him.

Fast asleep again

And finally as we were leaving a picture in front of the main entrance.